"WHAT IS MAN?"

This question is so
important that it is five times asked in the Bible. First in the book of
Job, 7:17. "What is man that thou shouldst magnify him, and that
thou shouldst set thine heart upon him?" Again in Job 15:14.
"What is man that he should be clean, and he that is born of a
woman that he should be righteous?" Also in Psa. 8:4. "What is
man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visitest
him?" Again in Psa.144:3. "Lord, what is man that thou takest
knowledge of him, or the son of man that thou makest account of
him?" and finally in Heb. 2:6, the same as in Psa.8:4.

It must be that this
question is important or it would not be so many times repeated and with
such variations. We will search for an answer. If we should answer the
question according to a matter of fact view of the condition of things
in the world today-we should say that man, considered as a whole, is a
poor, miserable creature. He appears to be a failure, a wretched
abortion. He is a beast of burden; an oppressed slave; a toiling,
ill-requited, downtrodden bond-servant, degraded, ignorant, godless,
corrupt and wicked. I am speaking of the masses; of course we should
judge of the race by the majority of its members; and the above is a
truthful description of the race of man as a whole; those who do not
come under this description are exceptions and not the rule. Take
mankind as a whole, civilized, heathen, barbarous and savage, and
the above description is not by any means as dark as the reality. If you
want to see a word picture of the race drawn out of all its awful
hideousness by an inspired pen, read the first chapter of Paul's letter
to the Romans; also Rom. 3:9-19. Truly "man that is born of woman
is of few days and full of trouble," he "drinketh iniquity
like water," and is "soon cut down like the grass." Such
is man as we see him today, "like the beasts that
perish." In regard to this humiliating view of man it is
sufficient to reply , as in the preceding article, that man is in the
rough, not yet finished, and hence, uncouth, defective and
ill-developed.

There is another reply to
this question-"what is man?" it is the orthodox answer, the
prevailing view among Christians. It is about as follows. Man is a dual
being, composed of soul and body (some make him triune, mind, soul and
body). The body is simply the house, the perishable tenement of clay, in
which the deathless soul, the real man, dwells. He was created perfect
in the beginning; an immortal soul in a perfect body. He fell, and now
is liable to death, physical and eternal, unless he repents and believes
on Christ; that is his body will die; but his soul will live forever in
bliss or woe. Of this false and unscriptural view I have only space at
present to notice briefly the immortal soul part. I will just glance at
the account of man's creation and see if from that we can draw any
evidence that God put an immortal soul in man when he made him. The
simple account is as follows: "The Lord God formed man of the dust
of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man
became a living soul." The phraseology here has given some
impression that after God had made man's lifeless body he put into it as
the vivifying power an immortal soul; but the passage says
nothing of this kind; even from the imperfect translation that we have
here in the common version no immortal soul doctrine can legitimately be
drawn. The language implies that man was a dead soul before the
breath of life was breathed into him, and that when he received that
breath he became a living soul. The idea of immortality, or
distinct identity of the soul, or that the soul is the real man and the
body is only a casket for it,-neither and
none of these notions are hinted at in the most distant manner. In
fact the account rather favors the view that the body, the part that was
made of dust, is the real man; for it reads. "The Lord God formed man
of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils (the
man's) the breath of life" etc. It seems that man was
formed before the breath of life was breathed into his nostrils;
certainly the passage favors this view more than it does the view that
the immortal soul is the real man.

But now let us have the
correct reading of the verse. I will quote from Young's translation.
"And Jehovah God formeth the man-dust from the ground, and
breatheth into his nostrils breath of life. and the man becometh a
living creature." Now look at verse 19. "And Jehovah
God formeth from the ground every beast of the field, and every fowl of
the heavens, and bringeth in unto the man, to see what he doth
call it; and whatever the man calleth a living creature that is his
name." Beasts are called the same as man, living creatures, the
phrase is exactly the same in the original, in both cases. From the
account there is just as much evidence that beasts have immortal souls,
as that man has one; especially so if we compare with these verses,
chap. 7:22, where we learn that "the breath of life" is in the
nostrils of beasts as well as in man and if it means an immortal soul in
the one case it must in the other. The fact is no such doctrine as
immortal soulism is taught in the Bible, either here or elsewhere; it is
altogether man-made; it is Babylonish in its origin, and is founded on
the falsehood of the father of lies,-"Ye
shall not surely die." Man is destined to become immortal
when he is finished; but that is the crowning glory of his creation and
hence is the last step, the putting on of the cap-stone of perfection,
to make him immortal to begin with would be like trying to make a
chimney by commencing at the top and building down. If we see the truth
set forth in the preceding article we shall understand how absurd as
well as unscriptural this immortal soul doctrine is. In
"God's building" (1 Cor. 3:9) he does not lay the cap-stone
first, but the foundation. Immortality is the final goal, not the
starting point; it is the crown of the "perfect man" (Eph.
4:13), not the swaddling bands of his infancy. I would say very
emphatically that all our theology will be wrong if we start out with
this great overshadowing error of all Christendom, the immortal
soul. As the phrase itself is utterly unscriptural so is the idea,
and no less is it contrary to Scripture, than to common sense and
reason.When man was first created he was just what the scripture
says he was, "a living creature:" and from that mere animal,
natural condition, he will be developed into a "perfect man"
in the likeness of God, incorruptible and immortal.

Now we return again to the
main question. What is man? We have answered this question according to
present appearances, and according to the traditions of men, let
us now see what. the Bible says. In the context of the passages we have
noticed there is no answer except in Psalms 144:3,4, where we are told
that "Man is like to vanity; his days are as a shadow that passeth
away;" an answer that applies to the present unfinished condition
of man, and in Psa. 8, quoted more fully in Heb. 2. In Psa. 8,
things that are not, are spoken of as though they were; the as yet
unfulfilled purpose of God is spoken of as though it were already
accomplished. We are sure of this because Paul makes it clear in Heb. 2,
where the Psalmist is quoted and explained; this latter passage we will
now notice particularly. Commence at the 5th verse. "For unto the
angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak;
but one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man that thou art
mindful of him? or the son of man that thou visitest him? Thou madest
him for a little while (see margin) lower than the angeles; thou
crowndest him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of
Thy hands. Thou has put all things in subjection under his feet. For in
that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put
under him. "But now we see not yet all things put under him."
In this last clause we have the enunciation of the same principle as in
Rom. 4:17. The Psalmist quoted speaks exactly as though man had already
received dominion, but Paul says, "not yet." Why then
speak as though the work was already done? Because God "calleth
those things that be not as though they were:" and herein is
infinite comfort. These declarations of universal dominion for man; -"all
in subjection under him"-seem almost to good to be true,
especially when we compare them to his slavish condition now; and yet so
sure are they of ultimate realization that God speaks of them as already
accomplished; they must surely come to pass; and man instead of
being the slave shall be the master of God's creation. But now let us
read on a little further. "We see not yet all things put under him,
but we see Jesus." Well what of that? What has Jesus got to
do with the question, what is man? Jesus was pure, immaculate, unsinning;
it is right that he should have dominion; he is worthy of it; but what
has to do with corrupt, fallen, sinful man? Just this, Jesus is the
pattern man of God's finished creation. He is the sample, the
standard, after whom all the redeemed are to be fashioned. Hence we see
the significance of this reference to Jesus. We see not yet all things
put under man, but we see JESUS, the
pattern man, and hence we can tell what man will be when he is finished.
Suppose a man had the rough material to make a great number of machines;
he first finishes off one of the machines and gets it perfectly
adjusted in every part, as a pattern to go by in finishing the rest. You
go into his factory and see this mass of material and you ask,
"What are you making?" The artisan replies, "All this
that you see is only rough material; come this way and I will show you
what I am making," and he takes you to the machine he has finished
off; "there," he says, "that is what I am. making."
You would have no difficulty in understanding what he meant. You would
see at once that the finished machine was a sample or pattern of what
the others would be when the material was all worked up. So the apostle
points to Jesus in just the same way. "What is man?" a poor,
wretched slave of sin, corrupt and tending to corruption. Yes, that is
true, but God intends to make him a noble lord of creation,
perfect and complete in the image of God. But now we see not yet this
great work accomplished except in the case of one individual, Jesus
Christ. He has passed through the entire process of creation, and been
finished, perfected; hence He is "the beginning of the creation of
God." Now if you wish to know what man is-i.e.,
what is his destiny-look to Jesus the finished
man, the only finished man, and you will see a perfect pattern of
"the perfect man." To me there is blessed comfort in this. I
am glad that the apostle points us to Jesus when we ask, "what is
man?" Sad indeed would be the answer if we had to make it up from
the degraded condition of man today. Not much better would it be
if we had to accept the answer that modern orthodoxy gives; man is a
being made perfect and immortal; but he lost that perfection, and now
his destiny is an endless heaven or an endless hell, with the chances
thus far in the history of the race about a hundred to one against the
former and in favor of the latter. Such a view is sad in the extreme,
and it looks as though man's maker had made a terrible mistake
somewhere. But how blessed to turn from all this confusion and
just "look to Jesus" for an answer to the question.
"What is man?" i.e. mankind, the race; the answer is Jesus. He
is the great representative man, the "Forerunner," the
"Beginning," the "First fruit," and "if the
first fruit be holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root be
holy, so are the branches.

Thus the ever blessed Book
gives us a grand and cheering answer to this greatest problem of life,
what is man? It is an answer that at the same time brings comfort and
hope to the believer, and reflect honor and glory upon the Creator.
Jesus is the pattern. He partook of flesh and blood because the
"children" (Heb.2:14), were in this fallen condition. He
passed through all the experiences of sorrowing humanity that
"having suffered, being tempted, he might be able to succor them
that are tempted." "He was made in all points like unto his
brethren, that he might be a faithful and merciful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the
people." His perfection is the type of our perfection, for
"we shall be like him." His triumph is the pledge of our
victory. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be
made alive." "As by the offence of one judgment came upon all
men unto condemnation, so by the righteousness of one the free gift came
upon all men unto justification of life." The human race is
God's masterpiece, the crowning glory of his creation, and, as the
sculptor takes a piece of marble and first gives it to an ordinary
workman to block out the statue in the rough, and then with his own
skillful fingers fashions the stone into a figure that almost seems to
breathe and speak, so God, the Great Master Workman, gets man out in the
rough first, using many agents to hew and hack the obdurate material;
then he finishes him with an infinitely skillful hand, molding and
fashioning him until He makes him the facsimile of himself, and
pronounces him "very good." To use another figure, every human
being is a rough jewel. God is the great Lapidary; and, as in the
laboratory of nature, the black, unsightly carbon is transformed into a
radiant, flashing diamond, so in the laboratory of grace, sinful, fallen
man, under God's manipulation, comes at length to shine in all the glory
of the divine image. "This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in
our eyes." Man can reduce the diamond to carbon, but he cannot
transform the carbon into diamond; God by his natural laws alone can do
that. So man can degrade and debase himself, but to life himself
he has no power. He must cry out, in utter self-despair, "O
wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me?" Then God
lifts him from the "horrible pit," and brings him at last to
"walk upon high places." But let me add that God is not
obliged to wait until we are willing for him to work in our behalf. Even
when we are stubborn and disobedient, God is dealing with us for our
good, although we do not know it. Our very sins are made in the end the
means of our training and discipline. Every Christian knows this by
experience; it is also a clear teaching of the Bible. Read Jer. 2.
Notice how God charges Jerusalem with their wrong-doing, notice how he
"pleads" with them (verse 9), and sets forth the "two
evils" they had committed. Then he asks, "Why is Israel
spoiled?" and gives the answer in verse 19, "Thine own
wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee,"
etc. How wonderful is God's way with man! Man by his perversity changes
blessings into curses, but God alone in his goodness and might can
transform curses into blessings. And so the work of God
shall go on in spite of all opposing forces; for by God's power all
opposition will not only be neutralized so that it shall not retard
the divine purpose, but it shall be transformed into co-operation so as
to advance his designs; and thus "all things" shall
help toward the glorious consummation-the creation of man in the image
of God. And the time shall come at last, when "there shall be no
more anything accursed." Rev. 22. N.V.*margin.

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*i.e. New Version; refers
to The English Revised Version of 1881-1885 (RSV)